Save Your Heart

“Natalie...” I gave her a suspicious look. Natalie’s track record of “new boys” never turned out well. I felt bad for her; right when she thought things would be going good, they would turn out to be complete assholes. Even though Natalie has been with her share of guys and wasn’t shy to flaunt what she had, she was a good person and she deserved a good guy as much as any other girl.

“No, no!” She blurted out. “I have a feeling this one is different.” I rolled my eyes at her response, she said that with every guy. Every guy was “different” she would say, but every guy would turn out the same way; outside our apartment with his clothes piled up on the floor in front of him and a door slammed in his face. She caught my reaction and waved her finger in my face. “No really, Ry! He’s different. His name is Brooks. He’s so cute! He’s in a band too! Maybe we can all go on a double date.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. He sounded familiar to me. “What’s his last name?”

“I don’t know. Metts or something.”

“Betts?!”

“Yeah! Hey, how did you know?” She asked with a confused expression on her face. Our waitress appeared at our table side and placed our food on the table, then proceeded to ask if we needed anything. We both shook our heads and she left.

“He’s in Derek’s band.” I answered with a chuckled. I took a bite of my sandwich.

Natalie practically spit out the bite she just took. “WHAT?! Really?” She squealed. People were starting to stare at us again. “That’s fucking awesome!”

“Nat, calm down.” I laughed.

“I can’t! I’m so happy about this. Do you know what this means?”

I shook my head and took another bite.

“We can all hang out all of the time!” Her voice was still at a level that caused the guests in the restaurant to watch us. I gestured towards them. “Oops.” She whispered and gave them an apologetic look. “So you know him?” She asked in a soft voice.

“Mhm.” I finished chewing the rest of my food before giving her a full answer. “He comes by Derek’s all the time with the other guys.” I wiped my hands on a napkin, crumbled it up and put it on my empty plate before pushing the plate to the edge of the table.

Natalie did the same when she finished her salad. “Do you like him?”

“Yeah. He’s pretty quiet, but he seems like a sweet guy. You might have found yourself a winner this time, Nat.” I smiled at her. She squeaked like a little excited mouse.

“Oh my gosh!” Natalie drummed her hands on the table eagerly. “We should go see them!”

I shrugged.“I don’t know. I don’t really bother Derek when he’s doing band stuff.”

“What can it hurt? I call Brooks all the time while he’s with them. Let’s go!” She hopped out of her seat and grabbed my hand. She dragged me out of the restaurant and to her car.

“Maybe we should call first.” I suggested as I got into her car begrudgingly.

“Nah, we’ll surprise them.” She was in no hurry starting the car and practically speeding to the band’s practice space. I had knots in my stomach all the way there; Derek and I kept our work/school lives separate from our relationship. It was something we’ve always done, we never liked getting in the way of each when we were doing one of those things.

The tires screeched when Natalie halted into a parking spot in front of a large brick building. I trudged behind her as she rushed into the building. She must have been here to visit Brooks before, because she seemed to know her way around pretty well. I, however, was unfamiliar with the place. As we got closer, I could hear guitars and guys talking. When I would hear Derek’s, my stomach would do a flip. I knew we reached our destination when Natalie squealed Brooks’s name. Her voice echoed throughout the hallways. I stayed behind while Natalie ran up tot Brooks and hugged him. He seemed taken aback when she jumped into his arms, but that quickly passed when she kissed him aggressively. In fact, all of the guys seemed taken aback when they saw her come out of no where.

I observed Derek watch her in shock. He obviously had no idea she was one his best friend’s new girlfriend, let alone that he had a girlfriend probably. A small smile appeared on his face when they kissed. I couldn’t help but smile at his kindness. I leaned back against the wall and watched him. He looked away from the happy couple to give them their privacy during their very intimate moment. He was sitting on the stage and strumming softly on the guitar that was sitting on his lap. He was wearing his glasses, he rarely did so, even though I loved him in glasses. I felt my heart beating faster the more I examined him. He was wearing a grey v-neck shirt accompanied by dark blue jeans and a grey beanie. His shirt showed off the muscles in his arm and his collar bone perfectly.

“Oh Derek!” Natalie sang. He looked from his guitar. “I brought a present for you.” He gave her a confused look. She motioned her head towards me and he looked in my direction. He flashed me a huge grin which electrified my body. I smiled back. He placed his guitar on the stage and jogged over to me.

“Hi, handsome.” I greeted. He enveloped me in his arms, lifted me a few inches off the ground and spun me in a circle. I giggled and wrapped my arms around his shoulder.

He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and grinned at me again. “Hi, beautiful. What are you doing all the way over here?”

I placed my hands on both sides of his face and pulled his head down. He pressed his forehead against mine. “I didn’t know if I was bothering you here or not.”

“You never bother me, babe. This is such a nice surprise.”

I looked over Derek’s shoulder and saw that everyone was staring at us. I coughed to get Derek’s attention and he looked back at them. “Come on.” He took a hold of my hand and led me to where everyone else was standing. I waved at everyone as we walked closer.

“Ry!” Jake came running over to me. He grabbed my shoulders and gave me a big hug. He nearly knocked Derek and I over.

“Jake!” I yelled back when he let go of me. I almost lost my balance when he did so. Derek held onto my hand tighter when he felt me wobble a bit.

“It’s been way too long. I’m not liking that.” Jake said shaking his head at me.

I let go of Derek’s hand, so I could give Jake another hug.“I’m sorry! I’ll be around more, I promise.” He grinned at me as his face turned a light shade of red. I said hello to the rest of the band, except for Brooks who still had Natalie attached to his lips.

After a few minutes of visiting, Jeremy suggested that the band go back to practicing. I offered to leave them alone so they could concentrate, but Derek urged that he wanted us to stay. Of course, that didn’t bother Natalie any. The two of us sat on the floor side by side watching the band practice song after song. Every time Brooks would swing his guitar or have a solo, Natalie would squeal and jump up and down. I chuckled and shook my head. I was doing the same thing inside, however. Whenever I heard Derek’s voice, I would smile. After all of these months, the butterflies would still flutter in my stomach. They were always more intense when he would sing. His voice constantly got to me, especially when he sang. Whenever I had trouble sleeping, I would give him a pathetic frown and he would sing me to sleep. It calmed me every time. I loved his voice. It made me fall more in love with him each time I heard him sing.

Once in a while, he would flash me a wink while on stage. I would stick my tongue out at him back. The awkward ‘getting to know each other stage’ in relationships was over. We had a cozy love now. We were getting sillier with each other each day. I was so comfortable with him and it seemed like he was too. The best part is he still wants to be with me, even when I act like my complete self around him, even after he saw how horrific I look when I wake up in the morning.